Diabetes awareness campaign
When Yama and Chitragupta walked down the hallways of M O P Vaishnav College, calling out health warnings to the students and staff, it truly became a walk to remember. The duo has almost become mascots for Jagriti - an awareness campaign on diabetes launched by the students of II M.A. Public Relations, M O P Vaishnav College.
Besides the God of Death and his faithful assistant, the team has used teasers, flyers, posters, lunch mats and even ink stamps with the campaign logo on it to promote their campaign. The campaign, which kickstarted March 14, seeks to educate the target audience about the perils of diabetes and hence induce them to take advantage of the free test (courtesy Dr Mohan’s M V Diabetes Specialities Centre) that the campaign offers to its target public. Just a few days into the campaign and the team behind the endeavour has reached out to over 1,300 persons and recorded an enviable number of 1,124 tested.
Jagriti - Spread Awareness, Fight Diabetes; targets four groups in students, corporate employees, low-income groups and colony dwellers. A pre-test conducted prior to the campaign showed that indifference to the disorder and misconceptions about it were rampant amongst these groups.
Due to the diverse profiles of the four groups, the campaign used different tools customised to the needs of the target group. A documentary, produced from scratch by the students themselves, was screened in the college on March 17. A street-play, performed by Koothu-p-pattarai, was staged in Annai Satya Nagar, low-income living quarters. Housewives in Navy Nagar colony participated in a cookery contest promoting tasty food which would be preferred even by diabetics.
Blood screening at each location is preceded by a talk on diabetes by an expert from M V Diabetes Specialities Centre. The audience is encouraged to interact during these sessions. Besides the extensive promotion in the college, the team has used MOP FM as well as Radio Mirchi to spread word about the campaign.
It has the support of the PACE campaign organised by M V Diabetes Specialities Centre, Sundar Dietetics (a division of Sundar Chemicals Pvt Ltd.), Bharat Overseas Bank and Sugar Free D’lite.
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